Tontitown Police Clerk Resigns Amid Records Concerns

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Tontitown Police Clerk Resigns Amid Records Concerns

A Tontitown police clerk on the job only for about a month has resigned over concerns that city police records might be open to scrutiny by people who aren’t in law enforcement.

LaDonna Sisemore told 5NEWS she quit her $14-an-hour job as police clerk on April 16 after only four weeks with the department.

“Other people had access to that data,” she said of police records. “I didn’t want to be a part of that.”

Police Chief Denny Upton said that like Sisemore he initially had concerns, especially about access by information technology employees, but now is confident the record system is secure and has not been compromised.

“It’s just growing pains,” he said. “We’re a new police department.”

In a resignation letter to Upton, Sisemore says she had “very deep concerns with the fact that non-police personnel now have access to sensitive law enforcement information such as on-going police cases that have not been adjudicated, via Crimestar access.”

Crimestar is a California-based company providing records management systems to law-enforcement and public-safety agencies, according to its website.

In the letter, Sisemore says if the public knew Tontitown police cannot guarantee records are confidential, the department might be opening itself to claims of civil-rights violations.

“I further feel that if the records management system is not under the control of the police department, this has the potential to lead to juvenile records being accessed, crime scene photos and evidence being compromised.”